Tigers Deep Dive of the Week

[Red88_Tiger]

I’m sure I speak for everyone jolls on the great analysis you have done in this thread.
It’s great to read confirmation of my own views with reason and statistics combined but also sometimes an alternate interpretation that makes me think.
Re bula my general opinion is he’s too passive and I haven’t seen him overplay his hand.

 

[magpies forever]

I’m sure I speak for everyone jolls on the great analysis you have done in this thread.
It’s great to read confirmation of my own views with reason and statistics combined but also sometimes an alternate interpretation that makes me think.
Re bula my general opinion is he’s too passive and I haven’t seen him overplay his hand.

Thats a good description I've been looking for to describe Bula- passive. He has skill but unlike so many of the good / great fullbacks, he doesn't shove it in your face. I think his attitude has to change if he wants to go to next level. We may regret extending him if he doesn't start to get out of his comfort zone.

 

[Jolls]

I’m sure I speak for everyone jolls on the great analysis you have done in this thread.
It’s great to read confirmation of my own views with reason and statistics combined but also sometimes an alternate interpretation that makes me think.
Re bula my general opinion is he’s too passive and I haven’t seen him overplay his hand.

I 100% agree that he is too passive, especially in and aroundthe ruck area. Plenty of opportunity for him there.

 

[Jolls]

I know @Jolls has long been advocating Douehi to play 13 as has quite a few Wests Tigers fans.
I could never see it working as I was not confident Douehi would embrace it and I was of the opinion that whatever advantage it could provide us in attack would be far outweighed by what we lose in defence.
There is still every chance this may be the case, but I think the continued emergence of Latu Fainu and the rapid rise of Javon Andrews has now surely forced our hand into this being the plan moving forward.
As most know I am not a big fan of Bula and not much has changed, but what I can see is a halves combination of Fainu and Andrews really creating space and utilising Bula’s speed to advantage.
For this to work we will need a 13 who is a running threat with much more speed and attacking flair than what we normally have at 13 and more importantly be able to play confidently as a 1st receiver and provide good crisp service to the halves when required.
IF and at this stage it could be a big IF, but a 13 combination of Doueihi and a switched on and committed Josh Schuster could help transform us from attacking dummies into attacking geniuses.

@Vicious I hear your concern and it is valid. Not only does he need to develop the size and condition to operate in the middle he has to have the mental/heart requirements right to be successful at the top level. My concerns with AD asa player coming into this season were not so much about his ability but his heart; he has faded in and out of games many times. Having said that this year playing as a 7 his effort has been pretty stable.

His output on the other hand has not; I expect that it is a combination of injury and the oppositon working out that his passing game is average. Rush AD and he will run and good inside pressure pushes him sideways. It didnot take too long for teams to workout how to defend him, and concurrently nullify our right edge attack.

AD is a ball runner, not a ball player. We knew this from the experiment with him as a 6. We alos knew, from his time in the centres, that his lateral movement is not up to speed so he is an arm gabber when faced with nimble opposition. However, when presented with the right opportunity he can hit and hit hard. His defensive deficiencies on the edge have been glaringly obvious in recent weeks; the shoulder may be part of it, but the key element is his inability to turn his big frame as quickly as his smaller and more agile opposition.

Stick him in the middle corridor in defence and he doesn't have to make decisions to jam or not to jam, he isn't faced with the same lateral movement issues and with his size, and some conditioning, he could make a good fist of it.

In attack at 13 there are so many options. He can play as a link and push Latu/Javon/Schuster one pss wider, he can be an X/Y threat off May/Pole up the middle, he can play as a second fullback on the opposite side of Bula, he can be the inside ball against the grain off Latu/Javon/KPP/Sam F etc. The key is that we need to develop an attacking style to suit what he brings as a 13, we also need to mirror that in Cup and down the line.

I'm sure that our attack coach isn't as bereft of ideas as the comments on the forum suggest so they should be able to work it out pretty quickly (if they aren't replaced).

We have signed AD into the medium term and he has a set of skills that put him in and around our top 17; but he has proven deficiencies at centre, 6 and 7. At 13 his deficiences become less exploitable; the real question is does he have the heart to survive in the middle as he already has the skills.